Stendel: "I'm very proud of my team."

The Reds' Head Coach gave us his reaction to the 2-2 draw with Coventry City at Oakwell.

After over a month, seven games, the Reds' defences were finally breached when Coventry struck twice from behind to claim a point in an end-to-end contest in Sky Bet League One.

Head Coach, Daniel Stendel felt his side couldn't complain considering their profligacy in front of goal and failure to defend in key moments.

“We had not conceded a goal in seven games," Stendel explained.

"So when we scored early I think the players thought a little bit like we had won the game. Maybe we didn’t concentrate enough in the box to score the second goal. That was the biggest thing for me, but we didn’t defend so well either.

"There are big moments in games and we came up short in that way this time.”

The result added another point to the Reds' tally, putting them five points ahead of Portsmouth in the table, six ahead of Sunderland who have three games in hand.

Stendel feels it was a fair result and was quick to thank the captain for his late saves that preserved the side's unbeaten run, meaning that should they go to Burton next weekend and not lose, they'll equal a club record.

As he told us: “The draw is okay, but we wanted to win and we are a little bit disappointed obviously. In the first half we had a lot of chances to score and played very well but Coventry scored their only chance. It wasn't good defending.

“In the second half it was a close game and we gave them a lot of space and some chances because we were trying to win the game but we have a good goalkeeper in Adam Davies and we expect he will make saves, which he did. We thank him for that.

“We have had lots of big games in the last weeks against teams in the top six and we have had players suspended or injured, and we have missed Kieffer Moore especially in some situations. But it’s not too easy to play well every week and I am very proud with my team for how they are playing. We don't lose. It's 20 games unbeaten and we have to remember the journey we're on."

With just six games remaining, the battle for promotion is set to go right to the wire. Stendel admits that it's about results now, and that performances might well fluctuate.

It's a trip to the Pirelli Stadium next up and the Gaffer maintains that the focus is only on what the Reds can do, not the sides around them.

“It is a big time in the season, you can see the players want to win every game. Last week we got a bit of luck to win the game but this time we didn’t. We have 18 points to play for and we want to get them all.

"We can only affect our results, and next week we go on our way at Burton hoping to pick up a vital victory. This time it wasn't meant to be for us.”